It was a couple of weeks ago when the White House first let Congress know that the administration is looking for an additional $200 billion on top of existing military spending to help cover the costs associated with the war with Iran. When Donald Trump was asked why he needed the money, the president told reporters early last week, “It’s always nice to have.”
I suppose that’s true — it is “always nice to have” $200 billion — but given that Trump has also said that the war is effectively over, that wasn’t much of an answer.
The larger question, however, is whether and how lawmakers on Capitol Hill respond to the request.
Broadly speaking, members have three options. They could simply decline to approve the additional spending, as most Democrats and even some Republicans are prepared to do. They also have the choice of passing legislation to spend the $200 billion, adding the costs to the nation’s budget deficit, which tends to be how modern military conflicts have been financed.
The third option, however, is the one that’s suddenly receiving the most attention: Lawmakers could approve the new spending, while cutting a comparable amount of existing spending to prevent a $200 billion increase in the deficit.
And where exactly would members find $200 billion? Axios reported:
Republicans are considering reductions in federal health spending to help pay for a budget bill containing as much as $200 billion to fund the Iran war and immigration enforcement.
New efforts to rein in health programs are sure to be controversial and open the GOP up to election-year attacks that they’re cutting health care to pay for an unpopular war.
Naturally, there are all sorts of questions about the specific policy details, and answers are in short supply. The Axios report added, “Discussions still are in the early stages.”
But that GOP officials are eyeing one unpopular idea (additional cuts to federal health care spending) to cover the costs of another unpopular idea (the ongoing war with Iran) is every bit as extraordinary as it appears. What’s more, that they’re considering these plans during an election year in which Republicans are already facing electoral headwinds looks an awful lot like political malpractice — and an unexpected gift to Democrats.
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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Republicans eye health care cuts to pay for U.S. war in Iran